Tackhead is both a group and a sound system. Tackhead are Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and Adrian Sherwood, while the 'Sound System' is operated by deranged MC Gary Clail. Keith, Doug and Skip are responsible for some of the best funk rhythms to have come out of the U.S.A. in the last decade having played as the Sugarhill Gang rhythm section and for Tommy Boy (notably Keith's Malcolm X, Beatmaster, etc.) and for countless other producers and labels in New York and New Jersey.
Adrian Sherwood has run his own On-U Sound label for seven years, having issued records with Mark Stewart & Maffia, Prince Far I, African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate, Singers & Players, Lee Perry and many others. He has worked for Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Simply Red, etc. doing select and original mixes.
Tackhead have collectively recorded and co-produced several exceptional 12" singles and one LP - a masterpiece Major Malfunction, credited to drummer Keith LeBlanc. New album by Tackhead, Friendly as a Hand Grenade is due for release in early 1988.
So, who and what you may ask is Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System?
The Tackhead Sound System has been operating for just over two years, first appearing with its namesake Tackhead and Mark Stewart & Maffia during their awesome live shows. More than simply adding 'support', the sound system and M.C./operator Gary Clail provide a non-stop assault of unreleased tracks, re-mixes and out-takes of studio recordings made by the Tackhead crew. These tracks are twisted and dubbed live through the P.A. mixing desk while maybe three rhythms, sound effects and chants play simultaneously. During all of this Gary endevours to 'express' himself, usually on a megaphone through the microphone and all done from the P.A. desk in the middle of a club, hall or wherever the show may be.
Some people have called Gary a rapper. Gary is in fact an ex-scaffolder and second-hand Cortina salesman from Bristol, England, and sees his new role as chanter extraordinaire as his true vocation. Gary Clail’s Tackhead Sound System has an LP, to be released in early '88 on Nettwerk label in Canada, entitled Tackhead Tape Time which includes drastically re-mixed versions of Tackhead 12"s as well as previously unreleased tracks.
